A Lebanese blog reading politics, books and civil society events

Women’s Protesting Bodies in Motion and Stillness

[اضغط هنا للقراءة بالعربية] The chronic marginalization of human body in general, and the female body in particular, and the concept of shame superimposed on free body expression are eventually turning these bodies to a sharp weapon of protest. The more the body is conceptualized as “shameful” in public consciousness, the least effort it takes to make it an expression of protest. The struggle of women, whether in the setting of feminist groups or as a part of wide national movements is going in the direction of enabling the body to express, both as a mean of liberalization and a mean of protest. In a strict religious and patriarchal country the mere presence of a fully covered female body in public can be an event, while this same body has to perform something more expressive to draw attention in a more liberal society.

Saudi Sit-in

The Saudi women who gathered in Buraydah last week to protest against the political imprisonment of their family members were themselves arrested before they spend their second night in an open air sit in. It was reported that they were forced into a bus and transferred to a police station where they were subject to rude questioning… Regardless of the backgrounds of this female protest the event itself is highly significant in a country where a woman is not allowed to show up on a street without the company of a supervising male relative. The mere presence of these women in the street, the presence of their bodies, though totally covered, in what authorities consider to be the wrong place, was so loud a protest that the ruling system had to react in a violent manner. Their sit in was not only regarded as a political protest but as a threat to break the authority of the patriarchal system.

Lebanese Dance Protest

In a more liberal country, though enough patriarchal, a female sit in wouldn’t be an exceptional event. Lebanese activists understand that additional efforts have to be made to render the body a more expressive tool. Last Sunday, in the demonstration organized by the NGO KAFA demanding a law to protect women from domestic violence, a group of women performed a dance in front of the residency of the speaker of Lebanese parliament. Although the Lebanese political elite is deaf enough to ignore even much bigger protests, the event did not pass unnoticed. Midst the political and economic crisis through which the country is passing, both conventional and social media echoed the demands of women to have a protecting law.

The implementation of the human body in protests around the Arab world, whether the body is still or in motion, covered or nude , reflects an increasing awareness of the power the corporal existence as a loud “NO”. However, the way this body is used will always vary in a way to suite each society and its mentality.

2 Responses

On the other end of the spectrum, of course, we have the Ukranian group Femen, which performs topless protests in the name of “liberating” Muslim women. (They’ve been in the news a lot lately.) How ironic that Saudi protesters, completely veiled, are doing something far more difficult and rebellious than the misguided and patronizing women of Femen could ever manage, even with their shirts off.

Very true Nisa. I think it is not nudity that makes the body more protestive, though nudity works for some other cases. It is just the right positioning of the body against the system that makes its protest meaningful. The activity of Femen is shocking for the oriental consciousness. But it is not the shock only that we need…